Mustered Out on Mertactor

035-1106

The Vindaar's Gambit

12

DEC/11

The group assembles outside Jannar’s bank at 9.00am, some of them feeling a little worse for wear after the drinking of the night before. The bank manager is expecting them and swiftly and efficiently transfers the promised Cr.7,500 each into their accounts and then gives them the authorization codes for the cargo as well as instructions as to where they should go.

The party members head off to the cargo bay for the Vindaar’s Gambit where they meet the ship’s purser, Helmut Geldaun. He checks the group’s documentation, pronounces that everything is in order and then introduces them to the ship’s 2nd Steward, Otto Hureelee, who is in charge of all cargo matters. Otto is efficient but rather officious, but does not have a problem when Arvor and William say that they would like to oversee the loading of the three containers onto the ship. Arvor and William don vacc suits together with Otto and check to make sure that the containers are correctly sealed and match their paperwork. They then look on as a couple of stevedores riding grav lifters carefully maneuver the three large containers into position. They then watch as the cargo doors are closed. With the cargo now loaded, then return to the bay, remove the vacc suits and go to join the others for a final drink in the closest bar as they wait for boarding to commence at 14.00.

They are met at the gate by the Purser again together with Chief Steward Galeana Avalar. She welcomes them warmly and asks them to check all of their weapons into the Ship’s Locker. Not wanting to give up his weapons that easily, Arvor realizes that he has little choice when he sees that they are scanning everyone with a metal detector. Jie manages to smuggle in a body pistol without their noticing, however, and Taeva her Needletto. The party members are then shown to their staterooms.

For the majority of the party members who have never travelled high class before, the quality of the staterooms comes as a very pleasant surprise. The Gambit might be an old ship, but she has obviously been refurbished on a regular basis as the quality of the rooms is first class. The stewards leave everyone for a couple of hours to get settled in.

At 16.00, as the Vindaar’s Gambit pushes away from the dock, Captain Alvernon Olicie brings all of the passengers together in the lounge and the stewards bring drinks for everyone. The Captain then proposes a toast to the health of the ship and the joy of jumping to other stars. After the toast, Galeana announces the program of events that will take place inside the passenger lounge every day. The party members see that, although all of the staterooms are full, only two other passengers are travelling high class, a successful merchant, Alamen Grisst, and a pregnant socialite, Mikeska Ongilii.

The party members relax and chat with one another for the four hours that the ship spends accelerating away from Mertactor, until the Gambit enters hyperspace mid-evening. Once the ship is safely in jump, Galeana and the ship’s gunner, Tivas Lingula escort the party members on a tour of the ship. They also get to see some video footage from the security cameras which reassures them that no one entered the cargo areas before the ship took off.

The group takes advantage of the free bar for a while and then call it a night, retiring to their staterooms.